Seductive Guest by E. L. Todd Page A

was so hard to do. I wish I could just be myself but I could never be myself around him. Ever since we were kids, I was quiet around. “Are you seeing anyone?”
    “Not at the moment.” He cleared his throat.
    “Anything new with you?”
    “No, not really,” he said. “Work never stops. But you already knew that.”
    I ran out of things to say. It was hard to talk to him. I wondered how different our relationship would be if I wasn’t so nervous around him. Or would it be different at all? “Speaking of work, we should get back.”
    It didn’t seem like he wanted to leave because he flinched. “Yeah, sure.”
    We cleaned our table then walked back into the building.
    After I sat at my desk, Nathan approached me and stared down at me.
    I looked up at him. “Did you need something, Nathan?”
    He put one hand in his pocket and rubbed his chin. “I…”
    I stared at him and waited for him to say the words I’d wanted to hear forever.
    “I…nevermind.” He turned and walked back into his office.
    I sat there, feeling disappointed. What was he going to ask?
    ***
    I met River at the coffee shop where we first met. “He’s totally different around me now. He asked me to lunch, he asked me about my day, and he asked about you—again.”
    River didn’t seem remotely surprised. He took a sip of his coffee, as if he was bored. “Why are you surprised? I told you this would happen.”
    “It’s just…” It was too good to be true. “Should I tell him I stopped seeing you? Maybe he’ll ask me out then.”
    “No.” He shook his head.
    “No? River, we accomplished what we set out to do.”
    “Not quite,” he said. “That’s still too easy of a catch.”
    I wasn’t following him.
    “You want this guy longer than a night, right?”
    “Yeah…”
    “Then you can’t cave this early. You have to make sure he understands how unattainable you are. When he finally realizes that you’re this desirable woman that every guy wants, when he gets you he won’t want to let you go.”
    This sounded more complicated than I thought. “Are you sure?”
    “Absolutely,” he said. “I know this stuff, sweetheart. I’ve been doing it for a long time.”
    “It just seems like a lot of work…”
    He stared at me for a long time. “It is.” Then he took another sip of his coffee. “Now he needs to see us together outside of work. Do you have a family function coming up?”
    I searched my calendar in my mind. “My family is getting together next week. Of course, Nathan and his family are invited.”
    “Perfect. You’re taking me to that.”
    “To meet my family?” I asked incredulously. I’d never brought a man home to meet my parents. The only reason why was because I’d never had a serious boyfriend so I didn’t see the point.
    “You can tell them we are just dating so they don’t start to plan a wedding and pick out baby names.”
    “I really don’t know how they’ll react.”
    “It’ll be fine,” he said immediately. “But I will be extremely affectionate with you. I hope that’s okay.”
    “Well, it’s not like I mind…”
    “I meant because of your family.” There was a smirk on his lips.
    “Oh, just don’t finger me under the table and we should be good.”
    He laughed. “Dammit, that’s exactly what I was going to do.”
    “I’ll make sure to wear jeans.”
    He took another drink of his coffee then leaned back.
    I brought up the subject he probably didn’t want to discuss. “How’s your sister?”
    He released a deep and irritated smile. “She’s still at my apartment. I had to move all my valuables to a safety deposit box at the bank.”
    “She steals?”
    “Yeah,” he said. “She’ll do anything to buy liquor. It’s pathetic.”
    It was . “I’m sorry.”
    “It’s okay. I want to kick her out but I feel heartless doing that. I even want to rent her own apartment but that will just get me stuck in this situation even more.”
    Judging the look of his apartment and